Titans and The Tunnel of Eternity
by Joegomoe
Summary: A group of Titans find themselves trapped in a seemingly endless cave. Will they be able to come together and find a way out? Or will they be stuck in the cave forever?


Raven woke with a start. She clutched her forehead and slowly sat up. Her body ached like she spent the night sleeping on stone. She felt the wall behind her. Oh… it looked like she had. She encased her hand in a dark glow and immediately began to assess her surroundings. Well, as best as she could. Her magic wasn't exactly the best at illuminating dark spaces. She felt a presence a few feet to her left. She slowly moved a bit closer and spoke,

"Beast Boy?" She asked.

"Just a few more minutes, Rae-Rae." Rae-Rae? She was going to have to ask him about that one.

"Beast Boy, wake up."

"Huh! Raven? Why is it so dark in here? Where are you?" He turned his head to his left and found her face only inches away from his. "Eeep!" He instinctively slid back, "Oh. There you are." The panic in his voice slowly fading, "Where are we?"

"No idea. Looks like a tunnel."

Beast Boy's head moved up and then traveled down, following the curve of the ceiling to the other wall. It seemed almost impossibly round. Like a machine had done it or something. He stood up, walked forward, and took a look in both other directions. A straight line for as far as any animal eye could see. He turned back to his female companion,

"Do you remember how we got here?"

"No. I remember waking up a few minutes ago and that's it."

"Do you think we're underground?" He didn't give Raven time to respond, "I'm going to go see. Stay here." A green mole dug into the wall and disappeared. Raven stood up, a bit irritated he had acted so impulsively. She walked to the middle of the room and assumed her usual meditating position. She began to spiritually search the area and instantly noticed something rather odd. Aside from the boy burrowing above her, she couldn't sense a single thing. It was as if she was floating in a substanceless void. In a strange way, it was kind of relaxing. Either way, she decided her best course of action for now was to meditate and wait for her friend to get back.

Beast Boy emerged from his hole and collapsed face first into the ground. Three hours straight of digging for nothing. He tilted his head up towards Raven.

"Did you find anything?" Her eyes remained closed while she spoke.

"Nope. Nothing." Beast Boy sat up and leaned against the wall, "So, now what? You wanna pick a direction and just start walking? Wherever we are, we're in deep."

"We should have talked about what we should do BEFORE you disappeared for three hours." Her feet gently touched the ground, "But no real point in arguing about that now." She held a hand out, "Come on. Let's go." He accepted the help up. He brushed himself off and then noticed Raven had already begun walking.

"Hey, wait up!"

They walked in silence for what felt like forever to Beast Boy, but it was probably more like 5 minutes.

"Rae, were you just meditating the whole time I was gone?"

"Well, you know how I love making you do all the work." She threw back. It was a shame she couldn't see Beast Boy's reaction. She continued, "There wasn't much I could do once you left. When I tried to search with my powers, it felt like I was in empty space."

"You mean, like, there was nothing around you at all?"

"Yep. As empty as your head."

"Ha Ha. Real funny. Anyway, I…" Raven had stopped suddenly. Beast Boy only just barely avoided a collision.

"Raven? What's wrong?"

"Something's coming."

As soon as she said it, Beast Boy felt it too. Something was coming right at them, and it was coming fast.

Scratch that.

Make that two somethings.

The pair of Titans assumed defensive positions and waited for whatever unholy horrors could be lurking in the dark cave.

.

.

.

"Uh, Hey guys! Fancy meeting you here!" The something was Kid Flash. The other something got off of his back and gave a subdued wave. It was Jinx. Raven was skeptical at first, but given how Beast Boy and Kid Flash had already begun their stupid overly complicated handshake, she decided to trust it was actually them for now. The group of now four decided to sit down around the light of Jinx's right hand and recount their journeys so far.

"So, Jinx and I marked where we started and I've been running straight at full speed for two hours now and still haven't done one revolution. So that means…"

"We've been shrunk!" Beast Boy interrupted. He began to mime himself pointing to a diagram on an invisible chalk board, "While we were sleeping, somebody snuck into the Tower and zapped us all with a shrinking ray!"

"Don't you think we would have seen other signs of that by now if that were the case?" Raven rebutted.

"That means," Jinx continued for her boyfriend, "We're either on some oversized alien planet, or something else is at play here."

"I always knew the aliens would eventually come for me." Beast Boy chimed in again. Raven glared at him,

"Do you have anything useful to say?" That seemed to shut him up. She continued, "It's not likely this is another planet. One of that size would probably have been discovered by now. And as I've said, I wasn't able to sense anything around us. Which, I would be able to do, were we simply on an alien planet. And while it is possible that specifically that aspect of my powers was targeted, again, it seems unlikely."

"So, what other options does that leave us?" Jinx asked.

"What that leaves is that this is some form of magically created space. I guess it may just be best to call it an illusion. But, if that's the case, it's a pretty shoddy one."

"What makes you say that?" Kid Flash rejoined the conversation.

"Oo. Oo. I know this one!" Beast Boy was raising his hand like an excited first grader.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Please Raven?"

"Fine. Go ahead."

He cleared his throat,

"The key to any good illusion is making sure it is indiscernible from reality. This one would fail in two big ways. Number 1: This tunnel is WAY too perfectly made. Nothing on Earth could have made this. Number 2: We should have seen some form of life by now, or at least some variation in the rock and dirt structure. Every part of this place seems to be made of the exact same thing."

"Your second point may have been better split into two, but surprisingly adequate work Garfield." Beast Boy's pride could have lit up the whole cave.

"So," Raven continued, "I think our next best course of action would be testing this theory."

A pink blast shot from Jinx's hand and flew down the corridor, causing both boys to jump to the ceiling.

"Jinx, what was that for?"

"She has the right idea." Raven got up and they both began firing a continuous stream of magic.

"If this is an illusion," Jinx explained, "Especially if it's a bad one, then this should cause some interference."

After another ten seconds or so, the world around them began to flicker. It looked almost like television static.

"Woah." Beast Boy and Kid Flash said in unison.

Raven and Jinx both lowered their hands.

"Good. Now that we've confirmed that, that should make getting out of here a lot easier. Now it's just a matter of finding a structural weakness and using it to create a backdoor out of here.

"But everything looks the same. How are we supposed to find a 'structural weakness'?"

"There is a way. It's a spell, but I'll need to borrow Jinx's eyes." As soon as she had said this, Wally ran behind Jinx and covered her eyes.

"I'm not taking them out of her skull." Raven did her best to hide her annoyance, "The spell would allow someone to 'see' magic, which would include any cracks in an illusion. However, it's a spell that can't cast on one's own eyes."

"That sounds cool! Why does Jinx get to be the one to do it?"

"The recipient has a high likelihood of going blind after the fact, unless they are a magic user as well."

"Oh." Beast Boy's enthusiasm vanished as quickly as it had appeared, "Take it away, Jinx."

Jinx "politely" removed herself from Kid Flash's grasp and walked over to Raven,

"Ok, What do you need me to do?"

Raven held her palms a couple of inches from Jinx's face,

"Just stay still. Even though it's safe, your body may try to reject the spell so I'm going to need you to help guide it through." Raven took a deep breath and her hands glowed a bright shade of blue, "Once the spell is complete, it should be active for an hour. During this time, I will be unable to see."

"What?" Beast Boy shouted, which threatened to break her concentration.

"It shouldn't be a problem." Raven took one more breath and then began her mantra, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos.

Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos.

Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos.

 _Ad Altiora Tendo._

 _Oculi de Deorum!_ "

There was one last blinding flash and then the cave went dark again. Jinx's voice could be heard.

"You didn't tell me it was going to hurt." She recomposed herself, "Alright. Let's take a look." Besides an outline around objects and people, the world was now completely colorless, "What am I supposed to be looking for here, Raven?"

"Anything out of the ordinary."

"It ALL looks out of the ordinary right now." Raven wasn't sure what to say. Truthfully, she didn't know exactly how the eyes affected one's perception.

"Wait, I think I'm getting it. Yeah, I can see it." Brilliant streams of color jumped out from just beyond the walls, "The magic holding this entire place together."

"And do you see a hole?" Jinx looked as far as she could,

"Raven, I think we may need to take back what we said about this illusion being crappy. I'm not seeing any holes. At least not in the immediate area."

"Really? Well, there has to be one somewhere."

"I guess I'll have to go looking." She hopped onto Kid Flash's back and gave his head a tap, "Let's get moving. We only have an hour. We need to make the most of it."

Once they were gone, Raven slowly and deliberately made her way to a wall and sat down. She heard Beast Boy sit down next to her.

"So, you called me Rae Rae in your sleep."

* * *

"I'm glad to be away from there. I was beginning to feel like Raven's presence was going to consume me. Like, her aura is always a bit unsettling, but being able to see it was seriously freaky."

"Does everyone have an aura? What did mine look like?"

"Yellow lightning. Tons of it constantly bouncing in and out of your body, even when you aren't running. It hurts to focus on after a while."

"Dang, that must mean I'm really powerful."

"Shut up." She playfully tapped him.

They ran into a comfortable silence for a bit. Kid Flash was simply enjoying Jinx's arms wrapped around him. Jinx was mesmerized by their previously unseen surroundings. Wally gradually began to feel left out until he couldn't take it anymore.

"So, what does everything look like to you?" He asked.

"Well, the tunnel is more or less the same, but just beyond the walls, it's kinda of like looking into outer space. A trail of stars and planets flowing endlessly in both directions."

"And how are you supposed to find a 'hole' or whatever?"

"It's a weird feeling. I'm not sure what one is supposed to look like, but I know I'll know it when I see it."

However, the alloted hour came and went and Jinx had still seen nothing.

"Are we sure Raven was right about this?" Kid Flash asked while he slumped to the ground. Turns out, running around all day can even have an effect on a speedster.

"I saw no reason to think she was wrong." She crashed down as well, "Admittedly, she usually knows her stuff. Maybe we just haven't found a crack yet."

"Or one doesn't exist."

"Impossible. Every illusion has to have a flaw somewhere. This type of magic simply can't be held perfectly together."

"Coulda fooled me." He stood back up, "So, what's the play now?"

"I don't want to give up on Raven's plan just yet."

"That means you want another go with the weird blue glowing eye magic?"

"Yeah."

"And that means I'm going to have to go get Raven." He sighed, "You'll be fine by yourself for a bit?"

"Please."

"Alright, back in a flash." With a dorky smile, he disappeared before Jinx could react to his tired joke.

* * *

Beast Boy's hand had been tapping the ground for what felt like longer than the time the others had even been gone.

"Ugh, where are they? You don't think they found the way out and left us here? They wouldn't do that. Right, Raven?"

"I mean, with you here, it is a possibility."

Well, THAT was reassuring. Beast Boy tried to remain quiet and be patient for another minute or so.

"Your eyesight came back like an hour ago, right? What are they still doing out there?"

"If Kid Flash was running for the full hour, it would take an hour to get back."

"But you said the illusion would be easy to crack and they would find a way out easily."

"Perhaps I was wrong."

"What if there isn't a way out at all?"

"If there isn't, this cave would be a first of its kind. No known magic is that powerful."

"But what if you are wrong about that too?"

"Then, I guess you better start acquiring a taste for rocks." Immediately after, she supposed she should say something that would actually help.

"Hey."

Beast Boy turned his head and noticed just how abnormally close they had been sitting; the glow of Raven's hand practically the only distance between them.

"I will get us out of here." She tried her best for a kind smile. Her words were relatively simple, but they did the trick for the time being.

In another moment, they felt a familiar presence speeding toward them.

"He's coming." They said simultaneously. The speedster slid to a stop in front of them.

"Alright kiddies, all aboard the Kid Flash express."

* * *

Another hour was about to pass and Kid Flash's patience was wearing thin. Not only had they still not found anything, but he also had had to deal with carrying the entire group. A suggestion from Raven to save the time of another return trip.

"Spell's over." Jinx said.

Kid Flash slowed to a stop and collapsed to the floor the moment everybody was off. Somehow, he found the strength to move himself to a wall.

"What are we going to do now? There's not a hole in this place."

"We don't know that for sure." Raven responded.

"How else could we have gone so far and still seen nothing? Either way, I think I'm going to be out of commission for a bit. Sorry guys."

"It may be a good time to break anyway. Beast Boy keeps falling asleep." She flicked a green bug off her shoulder that had yet to move on its own.

"Waah!" The shape shifter morphed back just in time for his butt to hit the ground, "A little bit of warning next time please." He crawled over to Kid Flash and took a seat. Beast Boy's stomach growled. He could have sworn he smelt a granola bar.

Wait.

He did smell a granola bar.

"You have food?!"

"You know I have to eat a lot to keep my speed up." The culprit shoved the rest of the snack into his mouth, "I was running on empty for the last little bit there."

"Where'd you get it though?"

"I have emergency food pockets all over my suit. You didn't know that? I'm sure I've mentioned it before."

"I think I would have remembered. Anyway, can I have some?"

Kid Flash tossed him a small bag of trail mix,

"Make it last. We don't know how long we're gonna be here now."

Soon, everyone began to attempt to find a place to sleep for the night. Kid Flash felt along the uniform wall until he decided that one clump of dirt and rocks was softer than the others. Jinx found her way over to him. He was a softer pillow than the ground at least. Beast Boy found a spot and stretched out. He was no stranger to sleeping in less-than-conventional places. He figured he would be right at home lying on the ground. That left Raven, who had volunteered for first watch. They still didn't know everything about their current location, so she figured keeping watch was a necessary precaution. She sat in an area in between the others and continued to contemplate their predicament by the pale glow of her hand. Powerful magic must have been used to conceal the illusion's weaknesses so well. But then, why would the actual illusion be so sloppily made? Then again, she supposed, it wouldn't matter how easy the trick were to spot if it was impossible to get out. She still had her doubts that a "perfect illusion" could even exist. There was stirring to her left.

"Hey Raven." Beast Boy sat next to her and loudly began eating the trail mix Kid Flash had given him.

"Do you want some?" He offered.

Raven raised an eyebrow, but she accepted a trio of mixed nuts.

"You know, you staying up too defeats the purpose of taking shifts."

"I know. I can't sleep. It's too… It's too quiet here."

"Of course **you** need noise to sleep."

"No Raven, I mean, like, background noises. Like The Tower's AC system or Cyborg getting a midnight snack or, any of the sounds from the city. I guess I just got used to all of it. And now, not having it is just making me feel like something is wrong." Raven could see her friend was in poor shape. One hand had not stopped tapping the floor, and the other hadn't remained in one place for more than a second. If she didn't do something, he was likely to stay up bugging her for hours. Raven sighed and clutched the bridge of her nose. She grabbed his head and laid it on her shoulder.

"I'm here. You're safe." There was a particular warmth to her the voice. The type that only came out every so often. Even if Beast Boy had been initially shocked by Raven's action, he decided to just roll with it. He felt his muscles relax and his breath slow. This small bit of human contact would prove to be just what he needed.

* * *

Jinx woke up and removed herself from Wally, making her best effort to not disturb him. He slid to the floor, but still appeared to be out cold. After a brief stretch, she made her way over to Raven. She saw Beast Boy's head cradled on her shoulder, and was she petting him?

"What's this?" Jinx asked like she didn't already know. Raven immediately stopped her petting, but made no attempt to move him.

"A momentary lapse in judgement."

"Well, you better get some sleep. I can handle the watch for now."

"Hey, Jinx?" Raven stopped her from turning around.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think we should do once everyone is up?"

"You're asking me?"

"Yes. You'd be the most qualified one to discuss this with."

"I'm not sure. Do you still think we will be able to find something with the eye spell? Even after all the distance we've covered?

"All knowledge of illusions says yes. What we've observed would seem to suggest something different. Still, I don't think we can safely conclude anything. If this cave truly is infinite, then it is entirely possible we just haven't run into a flaw yet. It's unlikely, but it is a possibility."

"So, all we can really do is take another guess? It feels like that's all we've been doing."

"Educated guesses are really the best we can hope for. We do need to make a decision though. I'd imagine we only have one or two more uses of the spell before we run the risk of permanent blindness."

"I thought you said it was safe?"

"I hadn't expected to need to cast it more than once. Repeated use, as with most high-level spells, will make negative side effects far more likely."

"I guess it's all the same either way. We can't keep having Wally run around like he is either."

"Which is why if there is a better action to take, we need to figure it out while we still have the strength to do so."

"What other options do we even have if it turns out there aren't any holes?"

"Well, theoretically we could tear a rift anywhere…"

"Then what have we been doing all of this for?"

"But it actually _would_ be dangerous to attempt. Also, there is no guarantee that it would even work."

"So, basically, if we can't find a hole, there's not much else we can do." She slumped down next to Raven, "That's just great. How'd we even wind up here in the first place if it's locked so tight?"

This last statement got the gears in Raven's mind turning again. She realized something that she figured should have been obvious.

"Jinx, that's it. The places we first woke up. Our entrances here. If a flaw were to be anywhere, it would be there." Raven mentally scolded herself. She hadn't even bothered to consider any of this because she figured a hole would be easy to find. If only they had gone in the direction of where she and Beast Boy had woken up. It would have saved so much time and energy.

"We have to be almost to where Wally and I started. So we give the eyes one more go and hope there is something there?"

"Sounds like a plan, I suppose."

"Alright, see you in a few hours." After Jinx had left, Raven finally allowed sleep to overtake her.

* * *

"We have to be getting close now."

"It's still gonna be like 5 minutes I think. I didn't have all this extra weight the first time."

"Hey, I'm not heavy!" Beast Boy morphed back into a human to say.

"Well, you are now. Idiot." Raven snapped at the boy whose weight was now pulling her head backwards. He quickly changed back into the small insect, "I can't believe you thought that was necessary."

"Hey, I think I see something!" Jinx interjected. As they approached, she got an even better look, "Looks like you were right, Raven. It looks crazy unstable up ahead." After another moment, Jinx shouted for them to stop.

"I think I understand why we couldn't find one anywhere else now."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"It looks like any and all instabilities were somehow forced into one area." Jinx set her hand on the wall, "it's most unstable here." Just beyond the wall, she saw a rainbow of lightning bolts constantly battling for dominance, "It looks like any little thing would tear it apart."

"So, what? All the "flaws" just happened to be here?" Kid Flash asked.

"No, this looks… intentional."

"Why would anyone do this on purpose?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Well, think about it. If there were lots of small holes, we would've gotten out by now."

"Alright, so Raven, you ready to do this?"

"Yes."

"So, can you undo the spell so you can see?"

"That isn't actually something that can be done. Once the spell is cast, we are stuck for the hour."

"Well, can you feel where my hand is and aim there? Or would it just be better to wait for the spell to wear off?"

"The next step isn't really reliant on eyesight, so we should be fine to go now."

"Okay, guys, give us some space."

Kid Flash and Beast Boy both took several steps back while Jinx and Raven got into position. Raven offered some last minute reminders,

"With the amount of unstable energy here, it should be fairly easy to make a tear. Having it hold together is what will be difficult."

They extended their hands and began. As soon as Raven's magic hit the wall, she felt as if a previously unseen world was opened to her.

"So far so good."

They began to make the tear. They got to about half way before it collapsed in on itself. They tried again. The same result. More and more attempts were made but, it began to seem impossible.

"It's no use!" Jinx shouted, "We can't get a portal to stay open!"

"We can do it!" Raven reassured, "Just stay focused." They began opening another portal.

Half way down.

It hadn't collapsed yet.

Three fourths down.

It looked like they were going to do it.

The portal was nearly complete when the ground began to shake. Blue lightning traveled from the portal to the girls' arms. A sharp pain stabbed into them, causing the two to recoil. The portal fell soon after.

"What was that?" Jinx exclaimed.

"Not good."

"Uh, guys!" Beast Boy had done an instinctive search of the area when the quaking started, "Look!" He pointed ahead of them, where the ground and the walls were very slowly begin to fade away. Before anything else could be said, Kid Flash had grabbed everyone and fled the scene.

Once they were a safe distance away, he stopped and Raven spoke,

"That must have been a failsafe. It doesn't matter that we figured it out. This place was probably made to destroy itself the moment we began to make an escape."

"So what happens when we're still here?" Beast Boy asked knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"Best case is that our deaths are quick and painless."

"Is there anything else we can do?"

"There is one thing." She made her way over to Jinx.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Kid Flash asked Beast Boy.

"Not sure. Raven said there was one last thing we could do which probably means one last thing **they** can do."

"Well, judging by Jinx's face, it can't be something good."

"We shouldn't tell the guys?"

"If we did, they would probably insist we don't go through with it. We don't have time for that." Raven sat cross-legged on the floor, "I'll need about my five minutes to get ready. If there is something you do to focus yourself, you should do it now."

"Okay, and Raven? Thanks for…"

"You're welcome." She responded.

After, Jinx walked directly to Kid Flash and engulfed him in a brief but passionate kiss.

"Jinx… not that I'm complaining but,"

"Raven said to get focused. So... I'm getting focused."

"Focused for what?"

"Our last chance out of here. We're going to need your help too."

To the surprise of Beast Boy, the occasional tremors seemed to have no effect on Raven's state.

"Then why is she always telling me to be quiet?" He thought. When Raven's eyes began to open, he suddenly realized he had been staring at her the whole time. He tried to avert his eyes, but it was already too late.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked.

"Wha..? No, Nothing!"

She chose to ignore him and head straight towards Jinx.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah." She turned around, "Alright Wally, go ahead and get started."

Kid Flash gave a thumbs up and began running in a loop. The hall was filled with a yellow glow, which instantly drew the attention of the other boy.

"What's he doing?"

"Building up energy. We're going to open a portal there and we are going to need all we can get." Jinx said.

"Ah, okay." Beast Boy glanced at Raven, who seemed to already be looking at him. She lunged. Was she going to hit him for some reason? He opened his eyes to see it was just a hug. This place must even be getting to her, he figured. He reciprocated, and then waited for her to let go. A Raven hug typically only lasted just long enough for you to process what was going on, but this one…

"Raven, is something wrong?"

"Alright, it's ready!" Jinx Shouted. Raven broke the hug, but said nothing more.

Jinx and Raven clasped hands. Jinx's eyes glowed Raven's usual white and her's glowed Jinx's pink. They extended their free arms and a mixture of both their magic poured out. The magic was focused in the middle of the circle Kid Flash was forming. The quakes began again and it didn't seem they would be stopping anytime soon. Blue Lightning shot out in all directions and once again attacked the girls. Despite their obvious looks of pain, this time, they held strong. Beast Boy watched as what appeared to be Titans Tower began to appear in the portal. He thought it sort of felt like looking at it through a window. The image only lasted a moment before the portal began to shake wildly,

"It's no good." Jinx said, "We still don't have enough power."

"We have to keep trying. It just needs a little bit more."

"A little bit more?" Kid Flash thought. He had an idea. If it worked, they would all be going home. If it didn't, well, the portal wasn't going to be opened anyway. He did one final revolution then side stepped out.

"Please work." He leapt towards the portal and flung his fist forward, hoping that would be the last push it needed. There was another flash of light and the image of The Tower became clearer.

"That's it!"

"Wally, now!"

And then, they were gone.

* * *

"Jinx, Jinx, you have to come check this out with me!" Her door slid open.

"I was about to fall asleep. Is this really important?"

"Yes, come on!" He grabbed her hand. Kid Flash led her to a empty hallway a couple of minutes from her room.

"We came all this way so you could show me a wall?"

"No. Here let me start at the beginning. So, I figured since we're staying here for a while, I should do some looking around, and then I found this." He phased through the wall.

"Wow, you can pass through walls. I never knew!" He stuck his head back out,

"It's not that. Check it out." There was a click and the portion of wall slid away, revealing another hall. Jinx's mood instantly changed,

"Where do you think it leads?"

"I don't know. Knowing Robin it could be anywhere."

They followed the hall until they came to an intersection, then another, and another, and so on. Soon enough, they encountered a bit of a problem.

"I'm telling you, from here we went right, left, right, right, left."

"No, we went right, right, left, right, left."

"Why argue when I can just check real quick?"

"Fine." She waited a second for him to return.

"Ha. I was right. Come on." They followed what Kid Flash remembered and ended at a door,

"Told ya. I'll let you do the honors."

Jinx pressed the button.

"Really? Did the way we come in have clothes hanging up? Where are we?" She pushed aside the rack of clothes. While doing so, she recognized several blue cloaks hanging up.

"I think we're in Raven's closet."

"Well, I've lived a full life."

"If she were here, we'd be dead already." Jinx opened the closet door, "Come on."

"I'm usually all for snooping, but Raven's room is too much."

"I haven't been in here since that first time I fought with them. it looks mostly the same, but I guess that's to be expected." She noticed a ring box on her night stand, "Ooo, this is new. What jewelry would entice even Raven?" Her eyes greedily awaited the answer, "What? There's nothing in here but a penny! You sure are a strange one, Raven."

"What's this mirror?"

"Don't touch that!... Just trust me on this one."

"Okay." Kid Flash scanned for something else to do, "Let's see what you've been reading, Raven." He started tossing books off the shelf, "Boring, Boring."

"Don't make a mess! We don't know when she's going to be back!"

"Pfffft, Jinx, you need to check this book out!"

" _Your Touch_ " Jinx flipped to the back cover and began reading, "Although they now live on opposite sides of the country, Beth is sure their love can go the distance. Different schools. Different jobs. Different lives. Nothing will break them. Her and Jared's love will stand the test of time."

"Uh, Jinx." He tapped her and pointed to a figure in a blue hood which seemed to have appeared from thin air.

"Raven, I can explain."

The figure pulled down it's hood to reveal a green boy with a toothy grin,

"Hehe, Sorry guys. I heard you in here, and couldn't resist."

"Don't scare me like that, man!"

"So, you just came into her room to freak us out?"

"Well, no. I was also gonna try to get present ideas for her birthday next week."

"Well, you could always get her another romance novel." Jinx started to put the books back, "I don't know about you guys, but I've had my fun. I wanna get out of here before the real Raven shows up."

"Alright, let me just check what that shiny thing on that bookstand is." Kid Flash went to the center of the room and picked up said shiny object.

"You really shouldn't just touch things in here." Beast Boy warned,

"I tried to tell him."

"It's fine guys. It looks like just some weird purple rock." He then took notice of the book already open to a page, "Oh, hey. 'The illusory stone is said to enable any magician to create powerful illusions. To create an illusion, or so the legend goes, one must simply express the details of it and then offer a small amount of their own magic. It can be as simple or as complicated as the user desires. Once an illusion is created by the stone, the user can then send a seemingly infinite number of people and objects into the artificially created world. The worlds are reportedly nearly impossible to escape and still not much is know about the inner workings.' Wow, this thing sounds seriously creepy."

"What are you guys doing in **my** room?" This time, it actually was her.

"Raven, I can explain!"

Kid Flash rushed to put the stone back. As he did, it slipped out of his fingers and slowly raised to the ceiling.

"What did you do?" Raven asked.

"Nothing. I was just putting it back!"

Blue light shot out erratically from the stone. A dark portal then loomed above them. Kid Flash, being the closest, was lifted off the ground before even he could react. Jinx was the next to fly in.

"Oh no!" Beast Boy tried to run away but no land nor air animal was fast enough to escape. Raven manage to catch him with a magic hand just before he was pulled in. However, the portal soon overpowered both of them, sending them to a world unknown.

* * *

The memories all came flooding back the moment Raven woke up.

"Good, you're finally awake." Beast Boy was here holding a clipboard, so they must be in the infirmary, "How do you feel?"

"We all almost died because you guys went into my room."

"You remembered what happened too? Yeah, this is definitely not our brightest moment. Why do you think the stone reacted to Kid Flash? Does he have secret magical powers? And why did we not remember anything until we got back?"

"The stone probably just counted his powers as magic. Either that, or the book was inaccurate. As for the other question, it would make sense for the stone to wipe any memories we had relating to it. I had completely forgotten about reading about it an hour prior."

"But what the other part? I don't remember him describing an illusion he wanted to make."

"I think I now know what happened with that too. If you could call them back here, I can explain." Beast Boy slid his chair over to the intercom,

"Kid Flash and Jinx to the infirmary please. Kid Flash and Jinx to the infirmary please."

"So, Raven, why aren't you, uh, more mad at us right now."

"I'm sure the anger will come later. Right now, I'm just glad we're all alive."

The infirmary doors opened and the two others walked in in an odd mix of elation and hesitation. One because they were glad to see their friend was ok, and the other because they didn't know if they were going to be.

"Hey Raven. How ya feeling?"

"I'm fine. Kid Flash, when you read from my book, did any thought at all happen to cross your mind about what kind of illusion you would create if you were to make one?" She got right to the point.

"Yeah, I did think about it a bit. So, I take it, the stone just took the few thoughts I had and ran with it?"

"That would appear to be the case."

"I feel so stupid! I really am sorry Raven. You can believe that I'll never go in your room again."

"Same." Jinx said. The two left the room before Raven had the chance to say anything else.

"How long has Jinx been awake?" She noticed the other infirmary bed was still a bit disheveled.

"An hour or so. You were both out for nearly 30 hours afterward. Raven, what you two did in there, it could have killed you, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but there wasn't time to argue."

"I just wish I could have done something to help. I was entirely useless back there." He mumbled into his hands.

"That's correct."

"Raven! Aren't you supposed to say something to cheer me up? Something like, 'That's not true! You were a great help!'"

"You want me to lie? Arguably, we could have even escaped quicker without you."

Beast Boy looked up, a few tears threatening to leave his eyes, "Just to be clear, you don't really feel that way, right? I'm not just useless to you?" Raven realized then that it wasn't the best time to tease him. She had just told him she could have died after all.

"No. of course you aren't useless. Don't beat yourself up about not being able to help much in there. We all have roles we are better suited for. There will always be times when one of us has to step aside. It is better just to accept that. Nobody is able to do everything."

"I guess you're right. It'd be totally unfair if I was smart, funny, good looking, **and** magic."

"Ugh."

Kid Flash zipped around the kitchen. Cyborg's "kiss the cook" apron nearly dragged on the floor, but he had insisted on wearing it.

"You expecting a crowd?" Jinx asked behind a stack of waffles.

"I just figured we could use a good meal after all of that." The common room door opened, "Ah, guys! Come in! Come in! Raven, I made sure to get some of the syrup you like. And Beast Boy, I made sure to keep your food separate from everyone elses."

Raven held back while everyone else began making their plates. Her communicator began to ring. Time for Robin's weekly video check in.

"Hey Robin."

"Hey Raven." He noticed the others in the background, "You guys seem like you are getting along well. That's good." Robin took a moment to observe the scene. Breakfast for dinner was usually a sign something had happened, "Anything to report today, Raven?" She looked back at her friends for a moment.

"Nothing of consequence."

"Hey, why didn't you answer my text yesterday? Did you not get it?"

"No. I saw it." She left out _after I woke up in the infirmary_ , "I meant to respond later. I guess I forgot."

"Alright. Anyway, I'll leave you to your dinner. Have a good night."

"Thanks. You too."

"That was Robin?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes."

"What'd you tell him."

"That we had nothing new to report."

"So, we're keeping what happened a secret?"

"I see no reason why it can't be kept between us." She turned to the others, who already had faces full of waffle, "Agreed?"

"Agweed." They responded.

"Good. Now let me grab some food before you guys eat all of it."

"You can always try some of mine, Raven."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen."

* * *

 **Does it kill the mood more to have The Author's Note at the end or the beginning? Anyway, I really abused the horizontal line breaks in this one. I like how spacious the default spacing makes the words feel, but it makes conveying the passage of time a bit more difficult.**

 **I hope you enjoyed! There are definitely places where this story could be improved. In particular, please let me know if you think it moves too quickly or too slowly anywhere. Or if you think the story is utter garbage.  
Oh yeah and,  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.**

 **(P.S. I'm thinking about reviving my multi-chapter stories that I abandoned ages ago. If anyone happened to be around about two years ago and read those stories, I'd appreciate your thoughts on that as well. Frankly, I would be fine either way.)**


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